No. 180 - Schnitzelbank

Today while reading the book I mentioned in Post No. 175, I came across another unusual word. On page 170 the author wrote:

On the surface our relationship was easy and usually pleasant. Our place was the little German one we'd found that first night. It was patronized mostly by townspeople not students. We would drink beer and talk and sing along with the Schnitzelbank.

I learned that Schnitzelbank is the name of a popular song that was written by Germans in the 1800s. It was originally designed to teach children German, but today is commonly used as a drinking song at bars and parties. It is also considered the International Friendship Song. The song itself is made up of 16 different items that are sung about.

The word Schnitzelbank translates literally as "a cutter's bench," but the musical form takes its name from a play on this word. The slang usage of the word "schnitzel" refers to a joke or to a person who is a jokester, and "bank" as the bench, podium or stage on which the jokester performs.

The song appears to have a repetitive nature to it, similar to The Twelve Days of Christmas, where each previous word is repeated as the song progresses and new words are added.